The University of Phoenix ( UPX ) is a private for-profit institution of higher learning. As the university with the largest student body in North America, it has a current enrollment of 420,700 undergraduate students and 78,000 graduate, or 224,880 full-time equivalent students. The school was founded in 1976 by John Sperling and is owned by the Apollo Group, Inc. The university has more than 200 campuses worldwide and confers degrees in over 100 degree programs at the associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.
History
In the early 1970s, at San José State University in California, John Sperling and several associates conducted field-based research in adult education. The focus of the research was to explore teaching/learning systems for the delivery of educational programs and services to working adult students who wished to complete or further their education in ways that took into consideration both their experience and current professional responsibilities. At that time, colleges and universities were organized primarily around serving the needs of the 18–22-year-old undergraduate student — given that the large majority of those enrolled were residential students of traditional college age, just out of high school. “According to Sperling, working adult students were often invisible on traditional campuses and treated as second-class citizens.” John Sperling once stated that the University of Phoenix was, "a corporation, not a social entity. Coming here is not a rite of passage. We are not trying to develop . . . value systems or go in for that 'expand their minds' bullshit."
The first class consisted of only eight students. Sperling founded the university in 1976 in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1980, the school expanded to San Jose, California. By 1989, the university was among the first providing an online program for students.
University of Phoenix is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group, Inc., is publicly traded on NASDAQ: APOL and is a S&P 500 corporation based in Phoenix, Arizona. The school was the top recipient of student financial aid funds for the 2008 fiscal year, receiving nearly $2.48 billion for students enrolled. In 2006, due largely to the efforts attributed to the Apollo group, the "50 percent" rule (requiring colleges and universities to conduct at least half of their instruction in person in order to receive federal aid or collect federal student loans) was modified. It no longer classifies students receiving instruction through telecommunications methods as correspondence students. As such, these students now qualify for federal student aid. The Department of Education requires that this method must include a significant amount of interactivity, to prevent correspondence programs from skirting the rule by using minor emails or just posting course materials like syllabi on their websites.
In May 2008, the school announced the formation of the University of Phoenix National Research Center. It is designed to study which teaching methods work best for nontraditional students. The development of the research center is under advisement by a board comprising a former dean of education at the University of Virginia; a consultant on learning and a former official with the College Board, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona is a municipal sports arena, best known as the home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals and the site of the NCAA's Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The University paid $154.5 million for 20 year naming rights for advertising purposes though does not, itself, participate in intercollegiate sports. Instead of heavy spending on a sports program to increase name recognition, it simply linked its name to sports by buying the naming rights to a football stadium.
The University of Phoenix abbreviates its name as "UOPX".
Campuses and online services
The university has campuses and learning centers in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and the Netherlands. While the school specializes in online programs, the campuses offer additional programs and services. Online students are also able to utilize tutoring/social centers which can also be used for social and student learning interactions. The first center opened in 2007 in Plano, Tex.
Students have access to class-specific online resources which include an electronic library, textbooks and other ancillary material required for the course. The university says that the electronic textbooks include search features and hyperlinks to glossary terms that make the books easier to use when working on research papers and other documents.
Through their online portal, or "eCampus," University of Phoenix students also have access to software required for coursework. Available, for example, are virtual companies created by the university to provide students with assignments, which Adam Honea, UOPX's dean and provost, claims are more realistic than those available with case studies.
In 2008, the University of Phoenix was ranked #25 in the world for online degree programs by OEDb.
Academic profile
The university offers several different programs of study, all administered through four colleges — the John Sperling School of Business and Technology, the Artemis School (administering art, education, and health fields), the School of Advanced Studies (overseeing doctoral programs), and Axia College (managing associate's degrees). In addition to its traditional education programs, the school offers continuing education courses for teachers and practitioners, professional development courses for companies, and specialized courses of study for military personnel.
Students spend 20 to 24 hours with an instructor during each course, compared with about 40 hours at a traditional university. The university also requires students to teach one another by working on projects for four or five hours per week in what it calls “learning teams,” wherein students engage classmates in course material discussions. Some academicians and former students feel the abbreviated courses and the use of learning teams results in an inferior education. The course schedule may be more convenient for professionals who can log on anytime.
Accreditation
The University of Phoenix was regionally accredited in 1978 by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) as a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). It also has accreditation for a variety of its specialty degree programs, including:
Diversity
The 2008 UPX Academic Report shows a diverse student and faculty makeup. According to demographic information in the report, on average the student/faculty population is more diverse than the national average for higher education institutions. African-Americans make up more than 15% of the university's 22,000 faculty members, with about 6% as Hispanic. The national average in recent years showed about 5% as African-American with about 3% as Hispanic. The student population is approximately 25% African-American and almost 13% Hispanic. This is as compared to national statistics from recent years showing 12% African-American populations and 10% Hispanics nationally. The university graduates a larger number of underrepresented students with master's degrees in business, health care and education than any other U.S. School. It is also ranked as the highest in graduating African American and American Indian students with master's degrees for all other disciplines. The underlying data for these conclusions was provided by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the '05-'06 academic year. The University of Phoenix was recently named one of the nation's top 20 institutions of higher education favorable to military personnel according to the December 2008 issue of Military Advanced Education. Nearly 29,000 active-duty military, their spouses and veterans were enrolled in University of Phoenix degree programs at that time with more than 7,200 military members or veterans graduated from the University during that year.
Students and graduation rates
The average age of a University of Phoenix student is between 33 (undergraduate) and 36 (graduate), and most students have work related commitments. The University states that nearly two-thirds of their students are women and that plurality of students attending the school study business (undergraduate students representing 29.9% and graduate students 12.9%), followed closely by those enrolled in Axia College for associate's degrees (28.1%).
When calculated by the federal standard used by the Department of Education, UOPX's overall graduation rate is 16%, which when compared to the national average of 55% is among the nation's lowest. The federal standard measures graduation rates as "the percentage of first-time undergraduates who obtain a degree within six years". The number is significantly lower at its Southern California campus (6%) and its online programs (4%). University of Phoenix acknowledges the 16% graduation rate but takes exception to the Federal standard used to calculate the rate, noting that the rate is based upon criteria which includes only 7% of
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